In summer 2001 a small, cast copper-alloy cannon was found in open sea, 5 km south-west of the island of
#Marstrand on the west coast of Sweden. While the significance of this cannon wasn’t realized right away, the founder later contacted Maritime Museum in Gothenburg. The cannon was carbon dated from the piece of cloth still found in the loaded gun. The result provided a likely date to 1285-1399 (95.4 per cent probability). Not only does the gun pre-date any known surviving European shipboard artillery, it also is one of the oldest securely dated pieces of artillery ever found.
More details in the The Mariner's Mirror “The Marstrand Cannon: The earliest evidence of shipboard artillery in Europe?”:
https://doi.org/10.1080/00253359.2023.2225311 #history #maritimehistory #militaryhistory